The rugby sevens season started well for the U18 side who, after consecutive Rosslyn Park National tournament victories in 2017 and 2016, are looking to become the first school side ever to win the title three times in a row.
The squad of 12 was missing a few senior players when they travelled to Hampton for the annual tournament. With nine players making their debuts, and eight of the squad coming from the U17 and U16 age groups, it was always going to be a steep learning curve.
The 1st VII won their group with victories over St Benedict’s, Campion, Caterham and a nail-biting 15–12 win over last year’s winners and host Hampton. The side was captained by Harry Sergeant, who alongside Hugh Tizard and Sam Lubbock, were involved in last season’s national success. The side progressed to the final where they struggled in the first half and left themselves too much to do in the second, resulting in a defeat and for the third year in the row came second.
Andy Houston said afterwards: “I couldn’t have been prouder of the squad. With so many experiencing a sevens tournament for the first time and with lots of young faces, they beat some terrific sides. Obviously we would have loved to have won, but most importantly the side learnt a huge amount of lessons from it. We will work hard to get better and hopefully can build on a really good start to the season.”
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